The Inbetween
by Lee Aiden
Summary: In the unusual world of the Imag-I-Nation, one man is king. But when a mysterious force threatens the way of life for everyone who lives there, including himself, will he be able to save them before he perishes along with his creations?
1. Prologue: A Mannequin's Words

Legends and myths passed down from centuries say that one day, the world will end.  
But as common as these stories seem to be, they always tend to leave out one little detail- which world it is that will end.  
Will it be it the real world? Bustling with people who live their lives from day to day, doing what they do? Is it Earth that will fall?  
Or is there another that fits the category of a world?  
Is it a world that exists in our minds?  
Our creativity, our ever-expanding thoughts that allow us to be who we are?  
Is it our imagination that will die?

No one is completely sure for certain. But if that was the case; if the world at stake was each of our imaginations, what would become of humanity?  
I live in a world like this. I live in an imaginary world. Not of my creation, for I am a creation. A creation of a man who built his own world with his own two hands.  
But recently, I have felt a strange disturbance in this world. Something is coming, something powerful, and it will surely mean the end of this place and all who inhabit it. Maybe even the mastermind behind it all.  
I am alive only because of that man.  
And I will make sure this world remains alive along with me.


	2. Part One: A Man Named Jeff Hardy

Everything in his mind was considered strange to most people. Then again, they didn't know how his mind worked. They couldn't understand originality if it came up and smacked them in the face. They lacked originality, he had told himself. He was unique. And more and more, that seemed to be something that was frowned upon. Since when was creativity a bad thing?  
So many questions, yet not enough answers. Reality didn't understand him. Reality couldn't handle him. So in more occasions than one, he had retreated to a place that he knew would accept him.  
He called his world "The Imag-I-Nation". Strange to say the least, but it was his creation, so what did he care what others though of it? It was his own unusual baby. He had brought it to life.

He was his own ruler. His own king.

But he couldn't just spend every waking moment of his life sitting on that imaginary throne. Especially not after what he saw that one day.  
His world possessed a sepia tint to it. The sky, leaves, and sunlight were a bright beige color. Everything in sight was a tannish, off-brown. Everything was that color. Normally, you wouldn't notice something unusual in a world of one shade. But his mind was special, obviously. It was his world; nothing could pass by without his keen gaze catching eye at some point or other.  
But what was most unusual was the fact that it wasn't trying to slide past him unnoticed. It wanted to be seen by him. As if it was presenting a sign of sorts.  
One thing was for sure, it was perfectly visible. And it wanted to be that way.

Jeff Hardy was not alone anymore.


	3. Part Two: Mandykin

It was a puppet. A mannequin. A doll.  
Whatever anyone wanted to call it, Jeff had found it one day when investigating what had more than likely fallen into, rather than invaded, his Imag-I-Nation. It was a pale, sickly white, with limp arms and legs and a blank, expressionless face. But Jeff sensed something different about it. To him, everything had a soul. Especially in this world. So it deserved to see the wonder he lived in every day.  
Taking the chance, he scooped the dummy up in his arms and carried it to a grassy field, some distance away from the forest he had found it in, and placed his hand over its forehead, attempting to bring life to the object.  
What happened next surprised him greatly.  
Materializing next to the mannequin was what appeared to be a human body. In a matter of minutes, lying next to the limp dummy was a living, breathing, human female. Her eyes shot open and she immediately moved to a sitting position, and Jeff was able to get a better look at her: wavy chocolate brown hair that reached past her shoulders, sparkling green eyes with dark circles around them, giving her a sort of smoky-eye look, and full, smooth, dark pink lips, all on a face and body of pale flesh. Her form fitting white dress seemed to blend in with her skin color, and her bare feet wiggled unconsciously in the grass. She appeared no older than twenty-two.  
Turning her head to meet his gaze, she scrambled back a ways, but slowly crawled back over, staring at him. It wasn't a creepy stare, rather one of curiosity.  
"Where did you come from?" was all Jeff could muster. In response to that, the girl pressed a long, thin finger to her mouth, before pointing it at the dummy lying in the grass. He was astonished, to say the least.  
"Wai-wai-wai-wait," he stumbled over his own sentence trying to make sense of everything. "You came out of a doll?"  
The girl shrugged. Jeff figured she obviously wasn't one for words.  
Still, he watched her reach out to the form of the dummy, effortlessly pulling out a white tag on a string from the inside of the wrist.

Jeff suddenly remembered- he made this mannequin when he was younger. One of the dead giveaways for that memory was that, written in his handwriting on the tag, was the word "Mandykin".  
He almost chuckled to himself. "Now where in the world did I come up with that name?" he asked himself in a joking manner. But all kidding aside, he looked at the girl again. "So… you must be my Mandykin."  
Her lips curved into a small smile as she nodded.  
But then he realized something. Constantly calling her "Mandykin" would get tiring and troublesome. So what was an alternative?  
Shifting in her seat with a rather charming twinkle in her eyes, she waited for Jeff to say something else. Noticing her staring at him, she blinked.  
He found it strangely adorable.  
"Well, how 'bout I just call you 'Mandy' for short?" he suggested. If anything, the girl's smile seemed to brighten as she nodded, quite enthusiastically to say the least.  
Jeff chuckled at her response. "Guess I might as well show you around and find you a place to stay," he mused, motioning for Mandy to follow him. Skipping to his side, she laced her fingers through his as she walked with him.  
That simple gesture brought a grin to the enigmatic man's face. He was now starting to realize that something that he had built himself was finally alive.


End file.
